March 2016


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The Hampton Roads Messenger 11


Women’s History Month: African American Women in Military History


Black soldiers on troop train passing through New Orleans being served chocolates and cigarettes by the Colored Aux- iliary of the American Red Cross (Scott, 1919).


Group of Red Cross Nurses on duty as the base hospital at Camp Grant, Illinois. (Scott, 1919)


Members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion take part in a parade ceremony in honor of Joan d'Arc at the market- place where she was burned at the stake. May 27, 1945.Pfc. Stedman. 111-


Surgical ward treatment at the 268th Station Hospital, Base A, Milne Bay, New Guinea. Left to right: Sgt. Lawrence McKreever, patient; 2nd Lt. Prudence Burns, ward nurse; 2nd Lt. Elcena Townscent, chief surgical nurse; and an unidentified nurse." June 22, 1944. Pfc. Michael Pitcairn. 111-SC-28748


Major General Marcia Martin Anderson is the highest-ranking African American woman in the history of the United States Army. She made history in 2011 as the first African American woman in the Army’s history to achieve the rank of major general.


WAACs, Privates Florence B. Davis, Dorothy L. Har- ris, Mildred L. Turk and Juanita P. Ingraham leaving Fort Des Moines going to Fort Clark Prints and Pho- tographs Division, Library of Congress 1943-45


Auxiliaries Ruth Wade and Lucille Mayo (left to right) further demonstrate their ability to service trucks as taught them during the processing period at Fort Des Moines and put into practice at Fort Huachuca, Arizona." December 8, 1942. Oster. 111-SC-16246


Inspecting a Grumman Wildcat engine on display at the U.S. Naval Training School (WR) Bronx, NY, where she is a 'boot' is WAVE Apprentice Seaman Frances Bates. 1945. 80-G- 18337


On Oct. 10, 1927, Hazel Johnson Brown, the first African- American woman to become a U.S. Army general, was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Brown worked as a military nurse and made history in 1979 when she was simultaneously promoted to brigadier general and put in command of 7,000 nurses in the Army Nurse Corps.


Brown’s stellar career earned her military decorations such as the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal. She was twice named Army Nurse of the Year.


Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, Third Platoon, Company 1, Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Prints and Photograpns Catalog, Library of Congress


“Race is an incidence of birth,” Gen. Johnson-Brown said at the time of her promotion. “I hope the criterion for selection didn’t include race but competence.”


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